A brief history of street photography

When I arrived in Glasgow I had this persistent feeling that I wanted to shoot photographs of people on the street. I did not know how to go about it; it was just this amorphous sentiment that hung around in my mind, a shade, a thought of a thought. I was much too shy and lacked the requisite courage to shoot strangers.

Around this time, Totz pointed me in the direction of Street Photography for the Purist by Chris Weeks. Although Chris Weeks stipulated a lot of things that I’m not even sure I can follow at any time in my life, I felt that I understood when he exhorted one to develop the eye of a spy, a ghost. That, together with reading wikipedia and the Street and Documentary forum in photo.net helped me to imagine myself in the street, shooting.

” … For the most part, however, the photographers discussed in these pages have tried to work without being noticed by their subjects. They have taken pictures of people who are going about their business unaware of the photographer’s presence. They have made candid pictures of everyday life in the street. That, at its core, is what street photography is.”

” … The street as it is defined here might be a crowded boulevard or a country lane, a park in the city or a boardwalk at the beach, a lively cafe or a deserted hallway in a tenement, or even a subway car or the lobby of a theater. It is any public place where a photographer could take pictures of subjects who were unknown to him and, whenever possible, unconscious of his presence.”

I thought it might be a good idea to make a “brief history of street photography”; something I can come back to from time to time to remind myself of the great men and women who made me want to do even just a tiny fraction of what they did. They have scaled the lofty heights I aspire to, hopefully for as long as I am able.

Reblogged this on street 2 photography and commented:
I am glad to have possibility to represent this four year old post about the street photography which by it self carries out timeless information heading us to the new inspirational heights.

When I originally commented I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on each time a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with the exact same comment. Perhaps there is a means you can remove me from that service? Appreciate it!